Builder, wife to serve time in prison

Orlando builder and convicted con man John Barrington was sentenced to more than 14 1/2 years in federal prison this week -- and his wife, Deanna, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years Tuesday -- for their parts in a multimillion-dollar home-building fraud.

In return for reduced sentences, both Barringtons entered guilty pleas earlier this year to charges that they evaded taxes and tricked would-be homeowners and investors in Central Florida with homes that were never built and subdivisions that were never finished.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell said Tuesday during Deanna Barrington's sentencing that, if prosecutors had not dropped fraud charges against her as part of the plea agreement, he could have meted out a lengthier prison term.

"It's time Ms. Barrington takes responsibility," Presnell, said, declaring that "the jig is up." She wept during a rambling, 10-minute statement in which she begged for leniency and argued that her husband was to blame.

"My husband has traumatized me and ruined my life," she said. "I was naive. I feel like I was used like a tool by him."

Her lawyer, Michael Nielsen, also argued that she was a pawn in the scheme.

But three victims told the judge they considered Deanna Barrington an integral part of the fraud, and Presnell agreed, saying it was "inconceivable" that she had been duped. Presnell used his discretion to exceed federal sentencing guidelines, giving her 30 months -- six more than the maximum called for in her tax-evasion plea.

In addition to 21/2 years in prison, to be followed by three years of probation, Deanna Barrington was ordered to make $6.7 million in restitution and forfeit two Hummer vehicles. She was taken into custody by U.S. marshals; under federal law, she will have to serve at least 85 percent of her sentence.

John Barrington also was ordered to make restitution and was sentenced to 175 months for conning about 75 victims in Apopka, east Orange County, Orlando and Kissimmee.

Presnell gave him the maximum allowable under the sentencing guidelines.

Jason Wells, one of the homeowners who was cheated, said Wednesday that he and other victims were happy with the sentences, noting that the judge came close to throwing out the plea agreement for Deanna Barrington so he could be tougher.

"I really believe she was the mastermind," Wells said, noting that he likely will have to file bankruptcy and face years of financial struggle as a result of the Barringtons' fraud.

Despite an extensive search, federal agents have not found the millions of dollars that prosecutors say was skimmed from victims in cash deposits and advances on construction financing.

Wells said he and his wife, Heather, who lost more than $130,000, got a $220,000 civil judgment against John Barrington but don't expect to recoup anything.

"None of us expect we'll ever see any of that," said Wells, who lives in Orlando but had hoped to move into a new house in a planned Apopka subdivision, Paradiso Park Estates, that is now in limbo.

Wells said that even though he received a settlement from RG Crown Bank -- the Casselberry-based thrift that doled out construction loans to the Barringtons despite lack of progress at home sites -- liens on his property and the ongoing legal morass have left his family in financial straits.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg told the judge Monday that Barrington, who had legally changed his name from John Stuart Jakows to conceal his criminal past before launching his home-building scheme, deserved a stiff sentence.

Handberg noted that, in Barrington's pre-sentence report, "his own mom called him a con man."